Eternity Part 2
by Leonhart37
Summary: Part 2 of an FF8 fanfic


Eternity  
**Part 1:-  
Coepi Pres.Incipio**  
  
Squall felt like he had been walking for eternity. He came across a crevice that ended in an abyss of nothingness.  
He had defeated Ultimecia and saved the world from time-compression, but now he was alone and was going to die alone.  
He knelt down, and managed to glance upwards to see something drifting towards him. He opened his hand and allowed it to drift into his palm. Then he gave up.  
He collapsed on the edge of the crevice clasping a single white feather in his hand.  
By now Squall had started to come to when he realised he was being held by someone but Squall had a horrible feeling it was his mind playing tricks on him. He knew he had to try and look. He took an eternity to open his eyes but when he did he saw what he thought was a blue shawl, and he knew it could only belong to one person. Rinoa.  
Knowing this he opened his eyes fully and took in the wondrous form of the one thing he wanted to see.  
As the pair met the harsh grey wasteland transformed into a gorgeous meadow while flowers sprang up and began twirling round the entwined pair. He was no longer alone.  
"S'up Squall!"  
Zell's loud voice awoke Squall from his daydream with a jolt. He had relived that moment dozens of times in his head during the 6 months after it happened and each time the ending seemed more miraculous.  
It had been when Squall was lost in the time-compressed world Rinoa had to create to battle Ultimecia.   
He went over to Rinoa's room with Zell but the martial arts expert stopped him before he knocked, as he had done several times before. He was so used to doing this he forgot that she had been gone for the last 3 months. It was just a force of habit. He did it every morning and probably would till she returned from visiting her old friends in Timber.  
Every time he did this he felt a little more alone. His social behaviour had got much better but he was still a little withdrawn, especially when Rinoa wasn't around.  
He and Zell rounded up the rest of the gang and headed over to the cafeteria to discuss what they were going to do.  
"Awwwwwww Yes!, HOTDOGS!"  
Zell went charging over to the line with a child-like grin of excitement on his face while Selphie skipped over to join him with Irvine following behind her like a faithful little pet.  
Squall and Quistis sat down at a table and started talking, or rather Quistis started talking anyway.  
"I can tell you're missing her you know Squall", announced Quistis. "Hmmn" he agreed. _You have no idea…  
_ "Squall, why don't you go down to Timber and visit her, we can take the Ragnarok"   
President Laguna of Esthar had granted Squall and his companions full ownership of the mammoth flagship, after all he kind of owed them after they saved the world and all, it could also prove to be helpful to defend the Garden should Galbadia attack again.  
Zell returned to the table with one hotdog in his mouth and four in his hands.  
"Hey Dincht, bet you can't fit all those hotdogs in your mouth at once", dared Irvine, tipping his hat.  
"You're on, cowboy!", yelled Zell in repliance.  
"Don't even think about it Zell, Irvine, you keep quiet", ordered Quistis. Zell did it anyway and managed to cram all four into his mouth and threw his hands into the air in celebration and looked as though he had just defeated a T-Rexaur single-handedly.  
His celebration was cut short when a bit of hotdog went down the wrong way and he started choking.  
Selphie leapt up and grabbed Zell in more of a bearhug then a hiemlinch manoeuvre and the piece of hotdog came flying out and landed in another students meal.  
"Hey Dincht!  
Watch where you're aiming that hotdog!"  
"Sorry" Zell managed to spit out.  
"Zell you idiot!, I told you not to do that!", yelled Quistis. Irvine tilted his hat over his face, trying to hide from her while Zell rubbed his throat and cowered from Quistis' fuming.  
"Alright everyone, let's calm down, Me and Quistis have come up with a plan. We are going to see Rinoa in Timber", announced Squall. I'll see her again…  
"Can we take the Ragnarok? Please?", asked Selphie.  
"Yes", answered Squall.  
"WHEY!!", cheered Selphie.  
"Awww, isn't my little pilot cute?", Irvine said as he hugged her.  
"So it's settled, we'll leave tomorrow, let's all go get in a couple of hours in down at the training arena. OK?" enquired Quistis. "I guess"  
"Sure."  
"Why not?"  
"Let's go!"  
One by one they entered the training arena where they were met by a buzzing noise and a mass of flittering blue shapes which turned out to be a swarm of large bite bugs.  
On their own a bite bug was no problem even for a beginner but when they attacked in swarms they could be quite dangerous.  
Zell was the first to enter and in his excitement, failed to hear the buzzing of the swarm and he charged in and had no time to cast a protect spell on himself when he finally noticed the monsters charging so he took damage quite quickly.  
He managed to crawl underneath the swarm and the first bug that came at him was met by a mach kick and squashed by one of his limit break attacks that was brought on by the initial damage Zell had taken.  
By this time Irvine had picked of three of the bugs with his Bismarck and the swarm was reduced to about 30.  
Squall knew what the bite bugs were like. They may not have been any real threat to an experienced group such as themselves but he knew they would not give up till they were victorious or dead. He realised they would all have to be killed, which could be quite exhausting, especially when it's a swarm of this size, and the companions weren't even prepared for a drawn out battle such as this one was going to be.  
Squall cast a firaga spell and incinerated five of them while Quistis froze four of them with a high ice spell and shattered the ice block with a heavy blow from her Red Scorpion, eliminating the four bugs inside.  
The 21 remaining bugs took a moment to regroup before charging down on Zell, who had been taken out of the battle after using up all of his energy on performing his limit break. Squall realised what was happening and tried to do something, he cast haste on himself, equipped his gunblade with explosive ammo, leapt among the swarm and struck one bug before quickly jerking the trigger, sending an explosive round into the already dead monster which took out 6 of it's surrounding friends and stopping the bugs charge.  
Using the explosive ammo had also damaged Squall as this type of round was also known as 'kamikaze ammo' as it could well take you out of the battle if you were to close to the explosion.  
Irvine rushed over and cast a low cure spell on Zell, so he was still able to use another limit break, who got up and began his full attack.  
He had twelve seconds to unleash all of his most powerful attacks to take out the last 14 of the bugs.  
He started with his weakest, a punch rush which damaged about 5 of them and moved on to a quickly delivered, powerful combo of two mach kicks, one heel drop and three booyas which took out the 5 damaged bugs and 2 others leaving the swarm with seven left. His final attack he chose was the meteor barret. As he began the attack his right fist began to glow and develop a fireball as it slowly moved towards the remnants of the swarm. As he got closer he sped up until he was a metre away and he moved like a bolt of lightning and the struck the bugs causing a blinding flash of white light which ended in silence as Zell hung in the air behind the bugs while a blanket of fire was spreading over the monsters. Zell held the fire in place as long as he could before collapsing and ending the attack. The swarm was defeated.  
Quistis rushed over and used her recover ability on the entire group as everyone congratulated Zell on such a great attack. Zell checked his personal battle meter and discovered that that encounter had advanced him almost four levels.  
"Well.  
Anyone want to continue?" Quistis asked.  
"HELL YEAH!" Zell answered.  
"NO!" Replied the others.  
"Well Mr.Dincht, unless you want to continue on your own, I suggest you get some rest like the rest of us, OK?"  
"Damn", muttered Zell, with his shoulders slumped in disappointment.   
  
'PING, PING, PING' Rang the intercom system.  
**_'Would Irvine Kinneas, Selphie Tilmitt, Zell Dincht, Quistis Trepe, and Squall Leonhart please report to the headmasters office, he is ready to see you now.'  
_** Quistis had made an appointment to see him so that they could inform him of the trip they were taking to Timber. Squall also needed to tell him something, but no one knew what.  
"Ah, Quistis, you wanted to see me?"  
"Yes Sir-"  
"Don't call me 'Sir', we know each other well enough for you to call me Cid now".  
"OK, 'Cid', the five of us were planning to go to Timber for a few days to see Rinoa, I just thought I ought to check with you first".  
"Sure, by all means, just make sure you say hello from me".  
"Of course".  
"Squall, I understand you needed to tell me something?"  
"Yes, I understand this may become as a bit of a shock to you all but I have been feeling a little overwhelmed by the responsibility of my position so-"  
Quistis had a slight incline as to what was coming next, they had been talking about it earlier.  
"From this point onwards…"  
Squall drew a breath-  
"I am no longer the commander of Balamb Garden, I am handing my position over to Headmaster Cid".  
"What?!".  
"Huh?".  
"Squall…?"  
"Why man…?"  
"Are you sure Squall?" Cid checked.  
"Yes".  
"Well, ok, I suppose there nothing I can do about changing your mind but I very much hope that one of you four will try".  
They all nodded in unison.   
"However, I think I should inform you that by the time you return there will be a surprise waiting here for you, Trabia Garden is up and running and very mobile an-  
"WHEY HEY!!!! TRABIA GARDEN IS OK! WHOOO!" Yelled Selphie, ecstatic that her former home was no longer crippled.  
"As I was saying before Ms. Tilmitt rudely interrupted me, Trabia Garden will be joining us in an attempt to recapture Galbadia Garden. By any means necessary."  
He paused to make sure there were no more outbursts from Selphie.  
"You see, Trabia Garden's new commander, Kandin Moore, contacted us yesterday and last night we came up with a military plan to attack Galbadia Garden, and you Squall, you will be co-commanding it".  
Squall whipped his head round to face the headmaster.  
"But headmast-"  
"Cid, my name is Cid".  
"Cid then,  
I just handed in my resignation as commander, I cannot accept it again".  
"It will just be for this one operation Squall, if you force me to, I will make it an order".  
"S-, Cid, I hope that by doing this you don't expect to change my mind, but if it is for this mission, then I suppose I have no choice, but only for the duration of the siege,  
I accept".  
  
**Part 2: -Reunited**   
  
Squall was sitting in his room, staring up at the ceiling and wondering how he had managed to relieve himself of the position of commander and then, moments later, having it all piled back on him, upon being ordered to accept a co-commander rank along side a Trabian commander whom he knew nothing about, to stage a siege he knew nothing about.  
Once again Squall's world of discipline, knowledge and organisation was tumbling in a tornado of fresh confusion.  
So many thoughts were racing though his mind, Rinoa, the siege, the new Trabian commander, Tai, and why Cid hadn't said anything about the siege earlier.  
His mind digested these thoughts, and we he came up empty he immediately drifted his thoughts towards Rinoa. Her carefree world, her eyes of innocence and hidden sorrow, her long, black, silky hair, how she always made him feel, like there were no longer any rules, that he wasn't bound by a system, that he was free, he was wanted and not just an inconvenience.  
Squall glanced over at his clock and realised he was late for a Cadet breifing. His intercom buzzed and he knew who it was straight away, as if she knew the exact moment he had remembered.  
Quistis.  
Her oh-so familier, whining, annoyed, scalding voice rang out over the intercom system.   
"Squall!, Where are you?, You were supposed to be here nearly two hours ago!"   
"Sorry Quistis, I guess I forgot"   
"You Forgot!, that is not a good enough excuse Squall, these poor cadets have been waiting down here for you for ages, they look upto you Squall, you are practically their idol for Odin's sake, you have let them down, I'm very disappointed in you Squall, very disappointed. I suggest you get down here right now and try to apologize to them."   
"Yeah, ok"  
"OK!, is that all you've got to say for yourself Squall!, I honestly don't know why I bother"  
"Damn, Quistis, I said I'm sorry, theres no need to ge-"  
The line went dead.  
As Squall trudged his way down to the Briefing Room he wondered what had become of Seifer after he last saw him after their final battle.  
Was he still the commander of the Galbadian Military?  
Was he even **in** Galbadia?  
A dangerous thought flashed through Squall's mind. He recalled the time when, back in Galbadia Garden, Rinoa had told the Squall and the others that she Seifer were involved.  
He had a horrible feeling that Seifer could have returned to Timber. To Rinoa.  
_NO! I won't think like this!_  
Squall pushed these thoughts from his mind as he entered a briefing room full of impatient looking cadets.   
_Well who could blame them? I am two hours late.  
Wow. Maybe I have changed a little._  
Squall had surprised himself with that last thought.  
"Well, erm, sorry about the delay guys. I, er, hope you're not to angry with me."  
The atmosphere seemed to lift a little and he glanced over at Quistis who seemed absolutely livid. He tried to make eye contact and she gave him a death stare that drilled in to the back of his head. Quistis was a master of that, as many of her unruly students knew.  
"So, as you all know, you have all reached the final stage of becoming a SeeD, you have the field exam coming up in one week, congratulations on passing the written test, I know that was hard enough but it's not over yet."  
_This isn't too difficult after all._  
"This year's field exam will be held in Deling City, as you know, we, along with Trabia Garden, will be laying siege to Galbadia Garden with the hope of recapturing it and returning it to SeeD. Your job is to get into Deling and sabotage, destroy or hinder any ground troops or unlaunched aerial forces. Concentrate on taking out their ground to air cannons and if you can, their launching systems.  
You will be split into six groups, along with your minor GFs, each group will be given control of one, very powerful, emergency only GF.  
Group A will be given control of the fire GF, Ifrit,  
Group B will have the thunder GF, Quezacotl,  
Group C will be able to use the Ice GF, Shiva,  
Group D can summon the Earth GF, Brothers,   
Group E will have the wind GF, Pandemona,   
and finally, Group F can use the Non-Elemental GF, Diablos.  
Bear in mind that these are **emergency only**, so only use them if you really have to.  
We are able to check how many times a GF is summoned so you will be marked down for unnecessary use of GF"  
As for strategies, groups 1, 2 & 3 will be stationed near the entrance by the car rental shop.  
Groups 4 & 5 will be to the right of the main combat site, outside the abandoned Presidential Residence, just be sure to stay out of sight until it begins, group 6 will be at the Shopping Arcade.  
At precisely 16:00 hours groups 1, 2 & 3 will begin their advance to the left of the combat site, 5 minutes later group 6 will advance to the north of the combat site and at 16:15, groups 1, 2, 3, & 6 will converge on the artillery and troops stationed there while 4 & 5 will take the launch sites which will be left of their position."  
_Phew, not too bad at all_  
"You will all be given a written briefing with everything you will need to know and everything I just said, so I wish you the best of luck on becoming a SeeD."  
Squall looked around and noticed that they were hanging on his every word.  
"Now, are there any questions?"  
  
Squall, Selphie and Irvine were making their way towards the Ragnarok to visit Rinoa in Timber, Selphie was getting excited at the thought of zooming around in the Ragnarok and Irvine was just getting excited watching her.  
Squall was watching him and he wondered how Irvine managed to show such an open display of affection towards Selphie, Squall couldn't do that, he would be worrying what everyone was thinking. His thoughts were interrupted by a harsh command from Headmaster Cid. "Squall, stop"  
"What is it Cid?" Inquired Quistis  
"……" One of Squalls most popular phrases.  
"You aren't going anywhere"  
"Why not!?" Squall asked.  
"I have a surprise for you"  
As Cid started to step away Squall caught a sight of a blue shawl and his mind immediately went back to the moment of his being lost in the Time Compressed World, when all his hopes of surviving seemed to be lost he was saved by his one true love.   
Rinoa. And there she was.  
Like a glowing angel of warmth and beauty, mixed with strength and power, all this was evidenced in her eyes alone.  
The two stood there in silence, looking at each other. Zell elbowed Squall in the ribs.  
"Go give her a hug you fool" He whispered.  
They both started to walk, slowly towards each other and gradually broke into a run.  
They leapt into one an others arms and their combining love for each other seemed to explode into an pillar of energy and light, at that one moment there was no one else. It was just their love, their energy. _Rinoa, my Rinoa, how I have missed you….  
_ "I missed you too Squall."  
  
"So what ya been doing Rinoa?" Asked Zell.  
"Nothing special, just hanging around in Timber, seeing my old friends and family"  
"How's Zone and…and……..what's his name again? Y'know, that weird clumsy one?………….Watts! That's the one Watts." Selphie quipped.  
"They're fine, I've been helping them get the "Forrest Owls" up and going again, Galbadia may have taken the armed patrols off but Timber is still occupied by them. I guess that heavy defeat and the loss of their leader, Edea, really set them back, they need all the soldiers they can get, seeing as they haven't given up the war yet.  
I also heard Seifer quit the Galbadian military, so as far as I know, they're without any significant figurehead"  
"So you haven't seen anything of him since the Adel incident then?" Inquired Squall, reluctantly.  
"No Squall, I haven't, so there's no need to get all protective and jealous, OK?" Rinoa was toying with him and gave him a playful hug to show she was joking.  
"Awww it's sooooo cute, Squall's all jealous…..!" Pushed Selphie.  
Squall rested his head in his hands, his trademark brooding position.  
"Selphie" Said Irvine sternly.  
"Don't toy with the man"  
"Sorry cowboy" Selphie said sheepishly  
  
"Quick, over here, the Kerensol reading's off the scale!"  
Kerensol was a chemical that was notoriously good at being a monster stimulant, it has long been used for the capture of larger creatures for study. The particular strand of Kerensol was the most powerful stimulant known.  
Blue Kerensol.  
"Move the diggers over here.  
Come on, get a move on!"  
"Right here, drill down for about 2 kilometres."  
The mechanical drill went through the icy terrain like a hot knife through steel. It stuttered and had to be restarted several times but got through eventually.  
"Whoa…  
This is the biggest deposit I've ever seen, or heard about"  
A few of the researchers went straight in to the main cavern,  
A moment later they came stumbling out, with ashen faces and an expression of pure horror, they regained a hint of composure, and looked at the others as if to say get out, get out right now, but the words couldn't come.  
"….the hell is wrong with them" muttered one of the mercenaries that had been brought along to assure their protection against the wild monsters of Trabia's icy wilderness.  
A few plucky researchers and soldiers went into the cavern.  
"My God…." Whispered the lead researcher.  
"A Weapon……"  
No one spoke. It was a large one with a tint of green to it and it's giant sword that was hung up on the wall.It was a large one with a tint of green to it and it's giant sword that was hung up on the wall. It just lied there. Not stirring at all. It was the perfect vision of everything ruthless, of everything fierce and uncaring. It was every monster and at the same time, it was nothing.   
"It's asleep" A few of them muttered.  
One of the younger scientists turned to run and went straight in to the smaller drill, knocking the lever and activating it.  
"No….."  
"You idiot"  
Were among some of the quiet mutterings.  
They glanced back at the new Weapon and they all noticed one terrifying thing.  
The Weapons green sword was missing.  
"RRROOOOAAAAAARRRRRR!!!!!!!!!!!!!"  
The frightened group of researchers ran for their lives.  
Even the hardened warriors were not stupid enough to mess with a Weapon of this size, or any size.  
The green Weapon let out a low, grating gurgling call, completely different to any they had heard before.  
The ground began to resonate.  
"What was that?" Wondered the lead scientist.  
As the first five reached the exit, they were leapt upon by a group of monsters that would never fight together usually, as the researcher noticed.  
"That call….."  
The fighters managed to cut an escape path through the monsters and a group of about thirteen made it out before the new Weapon was upon the rest.  
"Quick! To the ship!"  
The survivors piled into two research ships.  
The 'Emerald Weapon', as the lead scientist had just thought up, leapt out of his underground home and began it's 'Light Pillar' attack by pulling it's sword back, as it began to glow the Weapon thrust the huge sword into the air, causing a green pillar of light and energy to stream from the blade and strike the second escape ship, knocking it down to the ground.  
The monsters were upon it in no time, ripping apart the survivors.  
The occupants of the first ship could do nothing but watch.  
  
"You wanted to see me Sir?" Stated Squall.  
"Yes, I want to introduce you to the new leader of Trabia Garden, Kandin Moore. You have had all this piled on you at such short notice so I think you should have some time to get to know her, you are going to be working alongside her after all."  
"………..I…guess so"  
"Wow, don't be to enthusiastic about it will you" Joked Cid.  
"……."  
_"sigh_, she should be arriving soon, in the mean time, I have some…..shocking, if not interesting news.  
A new Weapon monster has been sighted in a recent Trabia excavation site."  
Squall's eyes widened at this revelation.  
"The researchers have located a large deposit of Blue Kerensol, a very effective stimulant, it is very rare on this account, and it is used to stun and capture stronger creatures for research.  
According to the survivors report, it is a large one, not quite as big as Omega Weapon but significantly bigger than Ultima. It has a green tint to it that is stunningly obvious in the light, it has already been named,  
As Emerald Weapon."  
"Emerald Weapon, hmmn,  
You say it's location is in Trabia, how near is it to Shumi Village, or Trabia Central?"  
"That's the main problem, it is quite close to Shumi Village, and now it has been disturbed, they could be in trouble.  
There are a few worrying things about it that have been noticed, it was discovered in a pit of powerful monster sedative-like chemicals, and it seems to thrive down there, not being effected by these chemicals at all."  
"Wow, immune to Blue Kerensol, it must be pretty strong, Ultima was affected by this, of course it wouldn't get knocked out by it, but it was still affected."  
"Precisely, and another thing,   
when the researchers turned to run, the Weapon let out a low, grating, gurgling call, completely different to any other Weapon, who all have similar calls, following this, the floor of the cave began to resonate, a symbol of any Weapons presence, and a group of monsters arrived to block off their escape,   
Some of the researchers managed to battle their way past the horde of monsters and escape, but others were not so lucky."  
"So the call was a sort of summoning of other wild monsters?"  
"That is how it seems"  
"It's location is also home to a couple of different species of dragons, fortunately for us the dragons are always looking for a fight against a Weapon, so that will hopefully restrict it's movement too much"  
Dragons had always been enemies with weapons, from the dragon relative Grendel, to the fire-type Ruby Dragon, to the almighty King of Dragons, Bahamut.  
"So it looks like we a not just dealing with your basic Weapon, but one that can call the aid of other monsters at it's whim,   
It is indeed an interesting creature with some quite fascinating abilities, but it could well be a problem.  
It doesn't look too good really does it Squall?"  
"Well at least Trabia Garden is no longer anchored there, so it can't hinder the siege"  
"What was that about my Garden?" Interrupted the newcomer, namely, Kandin Moore.  
"Ah, Kandin, you're here. I was just explaining the 'Emerald Weapon Situation' to Squall here"  
"Yes, I heard about that unfortunate incident, but if I'm sure our SeeD can take care of it can't they Cid?"  
"Anyway, so this is the famous, world saving Squall eh?  
"It wasn't just me Kandin, there were five others, not to mention all the SeeDs who defended Balamb against Galbadia" Corrected Squall.  
"Of course"  
Kandin looked about 24, not a particularly ripe old age for a Garden Head Master but Trabia can't of had much of a choice anyway. The Galbadian Missiles took care of that.  
She had dark blonde hair, with a tint of red to it in the light, she wore a tight, red top, with a black, battle scarred leather waistcoat over it.  
For a young women, she seemed quite worldly. A wise face, yet one with the eagerness for battle that Squall recognized every time he saw a comrade of his or looked in the mirror.  
"Now then, about that siege"  
  



End file.
